Members of Your Voice Matters, a group of university students, present their petition to Shinobu Okada, a Justice Ministry official, on Nov. 29.
A group of university students submitted a petition to the Justice Ministry on Nov. 20 requesting that the age of consent be raised from the current 13 to 16.
The group called Your Voice Matters started a petition drive over the internet and collected about 40,000 signatures.
The petition and request was addressed to Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
“There were many people who signed the petition who also said they first realized what the consent age was through this effort.
Moreover, the victim must explain the extent to which they resisted in order to bring a charge of sexual assault.
The petition stated that current curriculum guidelines for junior high school do not call for teaching about sexual intercourse, meaning students may not be fully informed about what constitutes sexual assault. »